Luke’s sex tape — which seemingly features Isabella — continues to cause ripples throughout season 2 of Cruel Summer.
In a sneak peek from the Monday, June 19, episode of the Freeform series, Megan’s mother, Debbie, confronts Luke’s brother, Brent, for recording his sibling’s private encounter with Isabella.
“I think Brent owes Isabella an apology — Luke too,” Debbie (KaDee Strickland), who is also dating Luke’s father, Steve (Paul Adelstein), says during the tense dinner moment. “Some genuine remorse would be nice.”
In response, Brent (Braeden De La Garza) offers an unemotional apology, saying, “I am sorry. It was wrong — what I did.”
Debbie and Megan (Sadie Stanley) aren’t thrilled with how Brent addressed his mistakes. “Feel free to keep going,” the high school student says before being cut off by Steve.
The scene, which takes part in winter 1999, offers a glimpse into the difficult dynamic after a sex tape of Luke (Griffin Gluck) was leaked. Although the entire town of Chatham assumed Luke had cheated on Megan with her friend Isabella (Lexi Underwood), it was actually Megan who was featured in the clip with her boyfriend.
Cruel Summer has continued to introduce twists and turns while exploring the tumultuous friendship between Megan and Isabella — which ultimately leads to Luke’s death by summer 2000.
Viewers were initially introduced to the former friends when Megan’s family welcomed the exchange student into their home. Things took a turn, however, when Isabella developed an interest in Luke in the summer of 1999 and various moments from the three timelines hint at a sinister conclusion to the love triangle.
Earlier this month, Stanley, 21, discussed how the show’s cast was kept in the dark about the biggest bombshells.
“We were learning things as we were getting the scripts and we didn’t know what part our character played in the death of Luke. Then everything that leads up to that — we didn’t know all of it,” she exclusively told Us Weekly. “It was just about getting to know our characters and who they are and why they are the way they are.”
The Goldbergs alum teased the questions that still have to be introduced, adding, “Each episode is kind of set up so you’re suspicious of somebody new and you’re left with a new piece of information to mull over in between. I would just say don’t trust any of the characters. It’s not as simple as who did it. It’s all about how we got to this point and what led to it. Not everybody is who they seem.”
Meanwhile, Underwood, 19, hinted that Cruel Summer viewers would be surprised by how the drama continues to unfold.
“I think another big mystery — just like the mystery of Luke’s death — is who a lot of those characters are deep down. [There’s a] mask that they’re putting on to hide everything that they are internally going through throughout all those three different timelines,” she told Us. “So you definitely have to keep your eye open and understand that everyone is trying to take control of their own destiny and with that things get messy and a little bit selfish.”
Cruel Summer airs on Freeform Mondays at 10 p.m.
